The US National Science Foundation’s Global Centers project will carry out research on hard-to-carbonise sectors and UK funding for the project includes support for the production of greener fuels and supplying cleaner power.

Led by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the initiative is funding international, interdisciplinary collaborative research on use-inspired themes in clean energy and climate change.

It is also creating an ecosystem of global centres generating outcomes and solutions which have clear benefits for society in our efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

The UK investment of £18m is across four projects in track one of the Global Centers programme, with funding provided through UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) Building a Green Future fund and International Science Partnerships Fund.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Canada, and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, are also investing in centres.

Dame Ottoline Leyser, chief executive officer at UKRI, said: “We are excited to be partnering with our sister organisations in the US, Canada and Australia to accelerate progress toward this crucial goal.

“Our combined investment in Global Centers enables exciting researcher and innovation-led international and interdisciplinary collaboration to drive the energy transition. I look forward to seeing the creative solutions developed through these global collaborations.”